https://www.scmp.com/rss/33578/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Russian President Vladimir Putin has a busy time ahead of him at the G20 summit in Osaka. If Russia is to follow its standard playbook, it is likely to keep largely silent on global economic issues (though it may have something to say on free and fair international trade). Instead, its main aim will be to reinforce its geopolitical stature in today’s world in general and Asia in particular. First of all, Putin will meet US President Donald Trump. The chance to maintain dialogue between the two... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3016339/g20-all-eyes-trump-and-iran-putins-date-xi-and-modi-one-watch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3016339/g20-all-eyes-trump-and-iran-putins-date-xi-and-modi-one-watch?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Jun 2019 10:00:21 +0000 SECRETARY OF State Mike Pompeo has notified Moscow that the US will suspend its adherence to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and withdraw from the landmark treaty within six months of February 2, unless Russia proves its full compliance with the pact. The treaty signed by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987, bans production, flight-testing, and possession of all ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of between... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2184742/cold-war-inf-nuclear-treaty-dead-killed-rise-china-and-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2184742/cold-war-inf-nuclear-treaty-dead-killed-rise-china-and-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Feb 2019 04:00:45 +0000 For Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, signing a peace treaty with Russia while in office is close to the top of his priority list. It will cement his political legacy as the leader who fulfilled the historic mission of solving Japan’s most thorny and psychologically sensitive problem since the end of the second world war – a goal which was beyond the reach of his predecessors. Talks between Moscow and Tokyo on a peace treaty have been at an impasse since the Soviet Union refused to sign one... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2183772/will-russia-and-japan-ever-reach-agreement-over-disputed-kuril?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2183772/will-russia-and-japan-ever-reach-agreement-over-disputed-kuril?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jan 2019 23:00:45 +0000 In December 1987, for the first time in history, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals and to eliminate an entire category of weapons. The Treaty on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces in Europe (the INF treaty), signed by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, required both superpowers not to possess, produce or flight-test nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range from 500km to 5,500km,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2172498/if-trump-blows-us-russia-nuclear-treaty-china-will-pick-pieces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2172498/if-trump-blows-us-russia-nuclear-treaty-china-will-pick-pieces?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Nov 2018 18:32:19 +0000 As a global power and leader of the socialist camp, in the cold war era the Soviet Union was a major player all over the world – and Asia was no exception. The USSR’s close ties with Maoist China that lasted until the late 1950s and the confrontation that followed, its role in the division of the Korean peninsula, its support for North Vietnam and the Viet Cong in Indochina, its ill-fated military campaign in Afghanistan, and its special relationships with India and the Iran of Shah Mohammad... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/long-reads/article/2164723/china-and-india-iran-and-korea-why-russia-asian-player-watch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/long-reads/article/2164723/china-and-india-iran-and-korea-why-russia-asian-player-watch?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Sep 2018 02:00:15 +0000 In 2003, Winter Sonata, a long and heartbreaking Korean TV drama series about love, passion, sacrifice and respect for human dignity, was broadcast on Japanese television, to great acclaim. A charismatic Korean actor, Bae Yong-joon, portraying a gifted young architect and a romantic lover, became a megastar in Japan, and the darling of Japanese ladies. Everyone came to know him simply as “Yong-sama”. Yong-sama-style scarfs, glasses and hairstyles became instant hits. Winter Sonata tour packages... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2141313/why-cant-japan-and-south-korea-get-past-their-battle-scars?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2141313/why-cant-japan-and-south-korea-get-past-their-battle-scars?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Apr 2018 01:15:00 +0000 Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, together with its ally Komeito, is tipped to cruise to victory in today’s snap parliamentary election, with major implications for China – not all of them negative. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision last month to dissolve the lower house and call the early vote is widely expected to pay dividends, with the realigned opposition camp left weakened after failing to create a formidable political force under Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s Party of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2116346/what-shinzo-abes-election-win-will-mean-china-japan-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2116346/what-shinzo-abes-election-win-will-mean-china-japan-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Oct 2017 03:47:47 +0000 Empty shops, deserted streets and silent restaurants make for an unusual Jeju this “Golden Week” holiday. The so-called Hawaii of South Korea has been bearing the brunt of China’s anger, with Beijing banning travel agencies from selling package tours to South Korea in protest against Seoul’s decision to deploy an American missile defence system. Once a favourite destination of Chinese tourists – who comprised 90 per cent of Jeju’s tourist footfall – the island has since turned into a ghost town.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2114232/beyond-thaad-real-reason-why-china-angry-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2114232/beyond-thaad-real-reason-why-china-angry-south-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Oct 2017 10:31:52 +0000 Globalisation was supposed to die this year. Instead, the European Union and Japan are about to create the largest free trade area in the world. Earlier this month, at their summit meeting in Brussels, EU President Donald Tusk and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a framework agreement on an EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) to create an economic mega-bloc between the two economies that together account for about 30 per cent of the global GDP. The initiative is a strong message to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2103556/if-globalisation-dying-how-do-you-explain-japan-eu-free-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2103556/if-globalisation-dying-how-do-you-explain-japan-eu-free-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Jul 2017 01:32:18 +0000 Recent meetings between Beijing and Moscow – at the Belt and Road Forum last month and at a two-day summit last week in Russia – are the latest in a string of efforts to strengthen Sino-Russian ties, especially along the border. However, like many nations, Russia has found that working with China can be a double-edged sword. Sino-Russian relations are “at their best time in history”, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russian media attending the summit – words that were backed up with the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2100228/chinese-russian-far-east-geopolitical-time-bomb?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2100228/chinese-russian-far-east-geopolitical-time-bomb?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jul 2017 00:30:00 +0000 The so-called anti-globalisation wave has become one of the most popular themes for panel discussions, articles, television programmes and the like. Don’t take it too seriously. Globalisation cannot be stopped. No matter what particular political leaders say and anti-immigration proponents take to the streets to demand, interdependence is growing. The volumes of goods, services and capital crossing borders continue to increase, and so do the numbers of people working outside their home... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2075503/globalisations-not-dead-it-just-has-new-powerhouse-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2075503/globalisations-not-dead-it-just-has-new-powerhouse-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Mar 2017 05:33:41 +0000 In his book Romance with the President Vyacheslav Kostikov, the press secretary of President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, reminisces that in 1992, “on the eve of his [ultimately cancelled] visit to Japan, the president was so focused on the Japan trip that he seemed unable to talk about anything else”. “They say you also have a plan on how to deal with the Kuril islands,” he remembers Yeltsin telling him. “Everyone who comes to my office has a plan...So, what do you have?’ I started to talk about... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2054810/can-russia-and-japan-resolve-kurils-territorial-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2054810/can-russia-and-japan-resolve-kurils-territorial-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Dec 2016 04:45:15 +0000